Modern vehicles use a variety of structures to protect the vehicle's occupants during a crash. Some of these structures are used to control the transmission of the crash energy to the passenger compartment while other structures, such as seat belts, head restraints, and air bags, are intended to restrain passenger movement during a crash, thereby preventing the passengers from hurting themselves as their bodies react to the crash forces. Side impact collisions present a particularly challenging problem to vehicle safety engineers, both due to the relatively low position of the rocker panels on many small vehicles as well as the difficulty of implementing an impact resistant side structure while taking into account vehicle doors and doorways.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,676,200, issued 13 Jan. 2004, discloses an automotive structure utilizing inner and outer rocker panels, a floor pan joined to the inner rocker panels, and a plurality of cross-members that extend laterally across a portion of the vehicle body. The cross-members include energy absorbing extensions designed to absorb side impact loads.
An alternate approach to achieving impact resistance is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,793,274, issued 21 Sep. 2004, in which an energy management system is integrated within various automotive structural components, e.g., vehicle frames and rails. In particular, the disclosed system uses members or inserts that are in some way attached to selected structural components of the vehicle, the members designed to both absorb and redirect the impact energy encountered during a crash. The disclosed members also help to reinforce the components to which they are attached. The patent describes a variety of ways in which the disclosed members may be incorporated into a vehicle during the manufacturing process.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,090,293, issued 15 Aug. 2006, attempts to achieve improved occupant protection through a seat assembly that is designed to provide side impact rigidity and resistance to rocker override and side impact intrusions. The disclosed seat assembly includes a frame track, a frame base slidably engaged to the frame track, a frame back rotatably engaged to the frame base, and a rear lateral support assembly that includes a support frame attached to the rear portion of the frame base. The support frame includes a tubular member that is designed to engage with a vehicle rocker panel during impact, thereby providing additional rigidity and strength to the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,007,032, issued 30 Aug. 2011, discloses an automotive energy absorbing side structure that includes a wide-based B-pillar with an internal reinforcing tube, a rocker with an internal bulkhead, a rear rocker, and at least one cross-member extending inward from the rocker. The disclosed cross-members are designed to transfer impact loads to the floor, the cross-members and the tunnel brace.
Although vehicle manufacturers use a variety of structures and components to protect a vehicle's occupants during a side impact collision, typically these approaches provide only limited protection while significantly increasing vehicle weight. Accordingly, what is needed is a system that provides superior vehicle occupant safety, particularly from side impact collisions, while adding minimal weight from impact resistant dedicated structures. The present invention provides such a system.